Editordude: Nadia Lathan at Voice of San Diego just published a great read on the latest on Midway Rising and Senate Bill 958 — although she doesn’t mention NAVWAR — and it’s worth your time to catch up on this complex set of issues that will, if enacted, drastically affect all residents and visitors to the Peninsula. She hits most of the key issues, although not everyone, but does wet our appetites. So, try to get to it over the weekend. Here it is:
Voice of San Diego dated July 24, 2026.
San Diego officials are moving full-steam ahead to get one of their chief policy priorities to the finish line before the legislative session wraps up next month.
Senate Bill 958 would make it easier to build a 165-foot-tall sports arena in the Midway District neighborhood by giving broad exemptions to building height restrictions in the California Environmental Quality Act, the state’s preeminent environmental law.
It allows the lawsuit-ridden Midway Rising project, which includes housing and the arena, to skirt the neighborhood’s 30-foot height limit for buildings near the coast.
Sen. Akilah Weber Pierson, a Democrat who represents Midway District, is authoring the bill.
Business and housing groups lobbying for the bill expect smooth sailing from here: It cleared a June hearing in the Assembly Committee on Natural Resources with unanimous support. That came after the bill was changed from its initial, more ambitious version introduced in February, when city officials sought to exempt all parts of the project from CEQA.
YIMBY Democrats of San Diego helped craft the legislation with the mayor’s office, which has been doing whatever it can to get the 16,000-seat arena off the ground amid yearslong local opposition.
San Diego’s business chamber and Democratic City Councilmember Jennifer Campbell are also backing the proposal.
Audubon California and the California Airports Council are opposed over fears that the taller buildings would affect bird migration patterns and planes landing safely. The Western Electrical Contractors Association union initially opposed the plan but dropped its opposition after labor provisions were added.
But some Capitol watchers are questioning why the bill exists at all.
Some lobbyists have described it as an insurance policy or a backstop in case of any further hitches after years of litigation have slowed down the project.
As we’ve previously reported, the state housing department in an April letter gave the city the legal go-ahead for the project despite a court order rendering earlier attempts by local officials to get around local height restrictions illegal.
That’s because state density bonus laws allow housing projects to get around zoning restrictions if they allot a certain number of affordable housing units. In the letter, state officials said these rules would also apply to the stadium because the arena is crucial to building the project’s housing complex.
The state’s interpretation is already enough to get around the district’s 30-foot height restriction, so the CEQA exemption city officials are seeking isn’t necessary.
But their efforts could be thought of as another tactic in the “Swiss cheese” playbook, said Zack Defazio-Farrell, a policy analyst for YIMBY Democrats of San Diego.
As lawmakers continue to exempt key housing regulations from CEQA, its original framework starts to look a lot more like a slice of Swiss cheese — dotted with holes — that’s much less effective at throttling development.
“It’s called Swiss cheese CEQA because it’s like, well, there’s all these exceptions and eventually if there’s so many exceptions to CEQA, then how effective is it?” Defazio-Farrell said.
What’s at stake: Todd Gloria is staking his mayorship on bringing a brand new stadium to San Diego before he terms out in 2028.
The project’s developer, Brad Termini with Zephyr Partners, LLC, was one of the largest individual donors to Gloria’s 2020 election campaign. He and his wife each gave $50,000 to an independent expenditure backing the mayor.
In 2021, Gloria received backlash after he picked Termini’s company out of a group of finalists, shocking critics who worried the scale of the arena and its planned 4,250 housing units was too large for Termini’s Solana Beach-based company, which has not taken on such a big project before. Gloria also faced criticism for picking a political donor.
It’s now up to lawmakers if they’d like to hand the embattled project another lifeline.
Considerations to be made: San Diego officials are asking lawmakers to sign off on yet another CEQA carveout, and the latest version of the bill is broader and less local. Other California projects would get the same exemption if they’re also more than 40 acres in size, valued at more than $100,000,000 and have labor agreements in place.
So far it’s faced no opposition from lawmakers. But Assembly Democrats wary of further eroding California’s marquee environmental law might need more convincing.
What’s coming: SB 958 awaits a hearing in the Assembly Appropriations Committee, which La Mesa Democratic Assemblymember LaShae Sharp-Collins sits on. It’s expected to be taken up on Aug. 15 and likely won’t be amended before then, as the bill will come at little to no cost to the state because Midway Rising is being financed by a private developer with the city.
Amendments could happen shortly after it leaves the appropriations committee, which would likely narrow the legislation even further to just give Midway Rising CEQA building height exemptions rather than other projects that meet similar criteria.
It’s expected to move to the Assembly floor right after. Aug. 31 is the final day for all bills to pass.
Sorry but I feel the need to repeat a reply from a couple days ago (with an edit):
Senator Akilah Weber Pierson
7575 Metropolitan Dr. Suite #100
San Diego, CA 92108
Phone: (619) 688-6700 and the Sacramento Office- Phone: (916) 651-4039
Dear Senator Weber Pierson:
Have you visited the Sports Arena area during rush hour? Have you noticed the stop and go traffic from the on ramp to the 8? Are you aware that the fire station across the street on Kemper is one of the busiest and has to navigate through several congested intersections and roads. Do you know the 3 bus lines serving the area (8, 9, 35) are often late? Do you know the 9 serves likely up to 100 Sea World employees daily to and from Old Town Transit Center? Are you aware that Sports Arena Blvd. will be shrunk to 4 lanes to accommodate the following?— Total New Daily Trips: The local mobility analysis reports an increase of 22,514 daily car trips combining residential, commercial, and entertainment uses. On peak entertainment event days, up to 80,000 raw daily trips are calculated for the completed project site. Do you know that regional vehicle travel for the arena component alone is projected to increase by 839,145 miles per year? Can anyone estimate how many 30 second crosswalk lights will be used to cross SA Blvd to use the 8 & 9 bus to Old Town every hour?
I have yet to read a serious traffic study. I can predict what will happen. Bumper-to-bumper to get on the 8 curling back to Hancock St. Lines at the 3 nearby gas stations all day long. Traffic crawling on Sports Arena & Midway. Waits at the EV station next to Arby’s and near Von’s. Slower emergency response times. More accidents. More pollution. A lower quality of life for the neighborhood.
And my last question… Did the right corporation and people involved with Midway Rising legally donate to your campaign or make the right promises? We know how these mattered with Gloria. And likely other YIMBY’s.
The project is too large for the Midway District, no matter who the developer is. Simple.
Voters wake up and remember just who is greasing the wheels for Midway Rising . YIMBY democrats. The mayor. Jen ” MIA” Campbell, State Sen Weber- Pierson and other liberals. Now add NavWar and there will be a wall of high-rises from the Flood Channel at the OB freeway , South to the Port Authority building on PH. Imagine attempting to get out of Pt Loma ? Just keep electing the same to office. No new ideas, no solutions other than building more “infill”, Same political party so no ” loyal opposition nor need to compromise. Such a shame. It did not need to happen.
Dick – this is not a “liberal” thing. It’s a developer and profit-driven thing and the electeds that curry to their favor.
Still looking for the group that identifies as YIMBY GOP of San Diego. Just saying…
How about Kevin Faulconer? Republican former mayor who has enthusiastically embraced the YIMBY cause since at least 2019.
https://www.city-journal.org/article/where-are-all-the-republican-yimbys
Let us know if you find any!
One of the problems with San Diego is that generations of GOP politicians greased the skids for the profit-driven developer class and now we’re inundated with market-rate McMansions. There didn’t need to be a YIMBY GOP because it was already in their DNA.
Which is an indication of how the narratives have flipped in the 21st Century. The Party of Lincoln tries to erase slavery from American history books, and now the only voices you hear trying to end these oversized developments sans parking in our communities are Independents and Republicans. The only thing that matters now is “where do you stand on this in 2026.”
Not true, Norman; I know a whole hell of a lot of democrats who oppose these developments. One clear example: Mandy Havlik, a Democrat, who ran in District 2. So look around you. There’s an old Chinese proverb: no research, no speech.
Mandy was a candidate I supported BTW who finished fourth. So how’s your research showing us all the Democrats who aren’t owned by the Yimby Democrats on Midway Rising. Maybe Campillo? You are oblivious to the reality. Democrats in office are working together to push Midway Rising through.
I think both parties have got us to this point. If we want to be honest with ourselves we must point to the Dems and the GOP. Stop the finger pointing away from your individual party. The big money two-party system is alive and well with their pay-to-play political dealing. Shame on both parties and shame on those who will look the other way at their own party’s misdeeds.
We have an opportunity to speak out. We hope you will attend
Town Hall to discuss SB958, NAVWAR and Midway Rising
The Peninsula Planning Group, Uptown Community Planning Group, Old Town Community Planning group and Protect Pt Loma Community Association are co-sponsoring an important town hall event.
Tuesday, July 28th, 2026
6pm – 7:30pm
Pt Loma Library
3701 Voltaire Street
San Diego, CA 92107
We will have a brief presentation on the background and serious consequences if the Midway Rising and NAVWAR projects are approved. Then we will open up the forum to public comment and discussion. This meeting will be recorded, and we will send this to each of the Assembly members who sit on the Appropriations Committee the first week of August.
In the meantime, whether you are able to attend on Tuesday or not, we need to flood the Assembly Appropriations Committee with emails in Opposition.
If you go to the website: https://apro.assembly.ca.gov
“Senator Weber Pierson”
“Christopher Ward”
“Tasha Boerner”
Flood the zone! Our voices must matter!
Dick, I’m in agreement with the publisher’s comment on this. It’s greed, and stupidity, and hubris, and corruption of government, and a raft-full of other failures that are rampant in both parties. Who funds them? The wealthy.
And, by the standards of pre-Reagan politics, this modern so-called ‘Democratic Party’ with the likes of the current mayor are nothing but freaking pro-business, corporate Republican-lite in various levels of Reagan economic policies.
The Clinton administration took care of installing that reality into the Democratic Party quite well as Bill never saw a corporate bill cross his desk that he didn’t like. Remember that Trump was a big supporter of Bill, donated millions, and Trump hasn’t changed his spots even a tiny bit his whole life.
And remember that Hillary was a Goldwater Girl back in the 60s, very Republican party of the rich, and she’s still an extremely conservative right winger! What a couple, eh?
Obama falls into this same category for that matter. After all, he bailed out the freaking banks and not the people who got screwed by the Republican Housing Crash of 2007/08. He also publicly praised Reagan and those awful policies, which any Democrat in their right mind would not have done at any time knowing what the damage those policies enacted did to this country in hindsight. Dems haven’t been in their right minds for a long time…
And Biden, too, has certainly always a Republican by judging his voting record and the bills he supported or introduced.
Empires generally blow apart and collapse into burning cinders by those in power from internal corruption and stupidity, and those in power are always the wealthy. Greed tends to win. A serious flaw in the mental makeup of our species.
sealintheSelkirks
It’s tribal at this point. The Yimby Democrats coordinating with our Democratic Mayor and Democratic City Councilperson working with a Democratic State Senator, to void our density and height restrictions & eliminate environmental review. This is the antithesis of the Democratic party of my youth. Power to the people? All that’s left now is, Show me the Money. Nothing will change until people recognize that this Democratic Party isn’t working for us locally.
We should build a brand new stadium UP somewhere, not in the landfill marsh, or else it should be a floating stadium,
an UP ON THE MESA stadium will be better for sheltering people during some kind of future coastal hurricane….
the “power corrupts logic” thing is real
make good choices power peeps,
or put a bunch of money aside to bail out the sinkhole new, luxury apartment peeps… ’cause that’s whats gonna happen, probably sooner than later…
it is logical science…
There was an arena proposed, next to Snapdragon, and it was quietly dismissed. Another candidate for best lipstick on a pig is………
https://timesofsandiego.com/community/2026/07/27/pacific-beach-chalcifica-adu-sdre/